The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-04-02
Ghe Sarmer.
Deep Cans for Milk.

Deep Cans for Milk.
A correspondent of the Country Gentle
man says sit is over ten years since we
adopted the plan of deep setting milk, and
we have never seen the time when we would
be willing to go back to the old plan of
open shallow pans or crooks. When we
first began deep setting, we were milking
eight cows, and had the cans made eight
inches in diameter and twenty inches deep;
but now that we are only keeping COWS
for family use, we use cans ten inches deep.
The cans are made with bail, but the ears
to which the bail is attached are set low
essough so that the lid fits over the top OF
the can instead of inside as lids usually do;
this is to prevent water from entering the
cans when they are used in chest with ice
above them. A few inches from the bot
tom, one handle is soldered to the side of
the can, to use in tipping it to pour out the
milk. These cans should always be made
of heavy tin, as it will be much cheaper in
the long run, though costing more at first.
My cans have been in constant use for the
past ten years, and several of them have
not been repaired at all; but part have
needed new bottoms
"Deep cans for milk may be used in cool
weather in an ordinary cellar, but for the
hot months there must be either an album
dant supply of cold water, or of ice. A
running spring though a convenience is not
a necessity, for well that will furnish an
unlimited supply of water, with a good
pump, will answer as well, and if there IS
a wind engine to pump the water, it is bet
ter than spring from the fact that the
water can be run where you want it; but
even with hand pump it is not very Ia
borious to pump water to cool the milk
from six or eight COWS. The trough should
be an inch deeper than the cans, and divid-
ed near the bottom with strips into squares
lust large enough to allow the cans to set
in them without any binding, and there
should be at the top an arrangement by
which the cans can be fastened down, as
milk is lighter than water, the cans will
float and project above the water. This
can be easily arranged by pin fitting
loosely across the top of the box, or hook
at the side to fasten into handle or loop
soldered to the cans for the purpose.
'sIf the dairyman puts up his own ice,
he will find it cheaper, and less trouble and
more satisfactory than water. A little
room should be partitioned off from the ice
house, or built adjoining it, so that the ice
can be slid on board, without lifting d.
rectly into the chest My chest is simply
a strongly made box of dressed inch lum-
Der, with doors at the side two feet high,
to open and set the cans on the lower floor.
As these doors swell and shrink more or
less, they are made with space of half an
inch between them when shut, and a bat
ten is screwed to one door to project and
cover this crack when they are closed. The
upper floor on which the ice rests is made
of hard wood stats smoothly dressed, one
by three inches, and an inch and half
apart. These are not fastened, but drop
into notches cut to receive them in strips
nailed to the inside of the chest, and any
time that we wish to clean the chest they
can be lifted out in moment. From the
top of the chest to the Stat floor is fifteen
inches, and the top is trap door made
double and hung with weight and pulley
so as to nearly balance, which makes it easy
to open and shut. The ice slides on
board directly from where it is packed to
the top of the ice chest, and is laid on the
Stat floor, and there is always room on and
around the cakes to set in a pitcher of
cream and milk, and any fruit or vegeta-
bles, dish of meat, or anything we wish
to keep. In all ordinarily warm weather
two cakes of ice alone will be sufficient to
cool the milk, but in the hottest weather
when we put in several cans of warm milk,
we set cake of ice on edge below between
the cans. Such an ice chest requires more
ice than some of the patent arrangements,
though if one puts up his own ice, it makes
but little difference Even though had
neither ice nor supply of water, and were
on this account obliged to adopt shallow
setting of milk in hot weather, | would use
the deep cans for the remainder of the year.
With cans ten inches deep and only cows
enough to supply the family, the milk can
be cooled in tub, and then set on the eel
lar bottom, and it will give better satisfac-
ton than to use open pans or crooks"